Differential reinforcement: process by which girls and boys are differently rewarded for engaging in gender-appropriate behavior

Parental encouragement is especially strong for masculine roles

Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory & stages

Identity formation as conceptual development (classification)

Results from child's active structuring of his/her experience

Stages:

Basic sex-role identity: by 3 years old, children can label themselves as "boy" or "girl"

Gender stability

Notion that gender does not change

Males remain male

Females remain female

Gender constancy

The awareness that superficial alteration in appearance or activity do not alter gender

Gender schema theory

Children develop schemas that help them organize and structure their experience related to gender differences and gender roles

Extrafamilial influences on gender roles & identity

Books and Television (Media)

Males seen as aggressive and successful

Females warm and unsuccessful

More effective with younger children

Peers

Enforcers of gender-role standards/define them

Gender segregation marked for boys

Schools and Teachers

School system predominantly male

Teachers structure activities by gender and provide differential rewards and punishments to boys and girls

Major points from Sexualization of girls presentation

Girls think that they need to be pretty (weigh less) to be successful

Early sexualization in children

Short Answer: Discuss two findings discussed in lecture or in your text that challenge the idea that there is one ideal parenting style that can be applied universally.

Studies have found that poor minority parents who used more authoritarian child-rearing practices had better adjusted children than those who relied on authoritative

Chinese are known to use authoritarian styles but they have a different conception of that parenting style. US emphasizes an individualistic view of childhood socialization and development. Style associated with higher child self-esteem in Middle Eastern but not Angle children

Short Answer: Some of the proposed consequences of schooling are: (1) an increase in logical thinking, (2) increase in memory, and (3) an increase in metacognitive skills. Based on the research presented in class and in the book, are all of these necessarily associated with schooling? For each of the three, explain why or why not?

Logical thinking: not really

Possibly associated with practice and familiarity with problem solving situation

Memory: school strategies yes, capacity no

Better performance

Metacognitive skills: yes

Children better in explaining their thinking

Short Answer: Why is it important to have a friend in childhood? Give two reasons why friendship is important and frame your answers around the social benefits discussed in lecture and in your text.

Children with friends are more socially competent, cooperative, self-confident, and less lonely

Strong support for positive effects of friendships across school transitions

Short Answer: Name three REAL gender differences discussed in your book. Based on lecture and the text discuss why you think we see these differences.

Atypical Development

Boys more likely to have genetic defects, physical disabilities, mental retardation, reading disabilities, speech defects, and school and emotional problems

Social and Emotional Development

Boys: physical aggression, variable in responses to parents

Girls: indirect aggression, listen to parents

Cognitive Development

Girls: display superior verbal abilities

Boys: greater visual-spatial ability

Short Answer: Describe three of the family subsystems mentioned in lecture (and in your book). Describe how change or disruption in any one of the subsystems may influence any of the other subsystems.

Parent-child sub-system

Conscious and systematic, begins at birth

Social roles reinforced through modeling

Promotes child's social life and activities

Mutually shaping

Coparenting subsystem

3 patterns:

1. Cooperative, cohesive, and child centered

2. Hostile

3. Imbalanced involvement with children

Sibling subsystem

Sibling rivalry and ambivalence diminish with age

Sibling intimacy increases with age

Short Answer: According to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, development is inherently a social and cultural process. Using research discussed in this class, give three specific examples of how cultural values, beliefs, or practices shape development. (Draw only on lecture, text, or films in the course.)

Oral narratives and story-telling important to cognitive development

Prevent underestimating children's intellectual capabilities

Children and their different techniques in solving math problems without formal schooling

Short Answer: In class we have addressed cognitive development, emotional development, social development, and physical growth and maturation as separate topics, but in reality they are all co-occurring as the child grows up. Give an example about how a change in one can be related to a change in any of the others.

Short Answer: Discuss two specific examples of resilience in development (where certain groups of children were labeled behind, delayed, at a disadvantage or not as good at something and were still able to develop appropriately for their community).

A woman with no formal schooling uses her whole body (as we would our fingers) to count and solve mathematical equations

Child vendors can solve commercial problems mentally to figure out how much change is needed for their customers

Short Answer: List two theories of gender role development, and briefly describe the main arguments that these theories make.

Kohlberg's Developmental Theory of Gender Typing

Children use physical and behavioral clues to differentiate gender roles and to gender-type themselves early in life

Gender-Schema Theory

Children develop schemas that help them organize and structure their experience related to gender differences and gender roles

Short Answer: What are some of the unique circumstances surrounding parents in LGBT families, and children raised by LGBT parents?

Lesbian mothers: Children develop in a normal fashion and do not have any greater emotional or social problems

Gay fathers: Children are heterosexual adultsGreater societal acceptance = beneficial for children

Short Answer: List 3 ways that the introduction of TV (regardless of content) changed children’s social lives

Increase in traditional gender attitudes

Shaped children's toy requests

Change children's gender-role stereotypes

Short Answer: What is the difference between stage and continuous theories of development? Give an example of a stage theory (including what is reported to happen at the different stages) and also explain the same phenomenon using a continuous theory.

Short Answer: In middle childhood children achieve “conservation.” Part I: What is meant by conservation and how is it tested? Part II: What are two other possible explanations for these results other than a change in the nature of thinking?

Part I

Conservation is the understanding that some properties of an object remain the same even when its appearance is altered.

One test has 2 same glasses of water with the same amount of water. When 1 glass is poured into a taller, thinner glass, they are asked if the glasses contain the same amount of water.

Part II

Cultural variation/horizontal décalage

Simplification of tasks or more comprehensible

Short Answer: Explain the criticisms of Piaget’s theory and cite evidence to support these criticisms. How does one reconcile the current findings with Piaget’s original position?

Short Answer: Give an example of a study from either lecture or the book where infants were exposed to an impossible event. What were the results from the study and how did these findings refute part of a classic theory of cognitive development (be sure to name what part of the theory they refute).

Infant 3 1/2 months old dishabituated when screen appeared to pass through the place where box was located